Whatshot
California's 'Pi To The Stars' sets up shop in Durban
California's 'Pi To The Stars' sets up shop in Durban
Date: 2015-03-27
Many know him as a Durban City Councillor representing the residents of ward 10 (Kloof, Hillcrest, Winston Park and Gillitts) but.....
For 25 years Rick Crouch worked as a private investigator in the United States where he built a successful Private Investigation Agency in California, and became known as 'PI to the stars'.
Crouch's client base included a who's who list of Hollywood A-Listers including but not limited to; Michael Jackson, Winona Ryder, Chris Brown, and the wife of Fred Astaire Robyn to name but a few.
Although he investigated everything from divorce, fraud and missing persons to murder cases, Crouch was hired by many Hollywood celebs. Of all the cases he undertook, he said the Michael Jackson child sex abuse trial was the most memorable.
Crouch is also listed as one of the top 10 bounty hunters in the world. His work tracking down fugitives saw him rank higher than Pat Garret, who tracked down and killed notorious criminal Billy the Kid, and English female bounty hunter Domino Harvey. "I guess that I easily tracked down more than 500 people I tried to specialise in sexual abuse cases, as I felt very strongly about that." Crouch.
Crouch and his company tracked fugitives around the world and brought them back to California to face justice. He has assisted the FBI and US Marshal Service in a few cases. Crouch said his most memorable case was tracking down a "most wanted" fugitive, Edward Chapin, known as The Wizard. Chapin was a major methamphetamine manufacturer in Garden Grove, California who, after being released on $100 000 bond, fled to Mexico. The FBI approached Crouch as they had reached a dead end, and he had a lot of information related to the case. "It took about two months to find him. He was working with the Sinaloa drug cartel in Sinaloa Mexico teaching them how to "cook" methamphetamine. "We managed to convince his girlfriend to assist us, which she did reluctantly. She contacted him and convinced him that she needed to talk to him at the border between Mexico and the US, which was just a line painted on the ground." Once Chapin and his girlfriend were conversing, it was a case of one of Crouch's best investigators, Alfredo Guerrero, literally pushing Chapin over the border, where US Marshals arrested him. For this, Crouch was awarded the Citizen of the Year Award.
Crouch will be setting up shop in the Hillcrest as Rick Crouch & Associates where they will handle investigations and digital forensics cases. "Our Durban office will handle queries from Africa and Europe and our California office, run by Alfredo Guerrero, will continue to respond to queries from North, Central and South America.
"I have no hesitation in saying we are the best; our motto is 'the client is king'. We do our absolute best to get the results for our clients. By the time you've decided to hire a private investigator, you've probably exhausted your confidence; you may even believe your situation is hopeless. We can help." Said Crouch.
